Haunting images of Syria's abandoned homes

By Sarah Brown, CNN

Updated 2108 GMT (0508 HKT) January 16, 2014

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside Syria's abandoned homes – Italian photographer Matteo Rovella spent June in the Syrian city of Aleppo, capturing the impact of the country's brutal civil war on its population. He was particularly struck by the many destroyed and abandoned homes "where time seems to have stopped," he said.

Hide Caption

1 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – Rovella traveled into Syria via the Turkish border with the Free Syrian Army, the country's main opposition force.

Hide Caption

2 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – This picture shows the remains of a Free Syrian Army commander's home. "The living room was literally sliced in half," he said.

Hide Caption

3 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – Rovella said that to him, the images showed scores of lives in the process of being interrupted. "You are obligated to leave your things, your home, your life and go away, maybe to not come back," he said.

Hide Caption

4 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – Some of his images have an almost unbearable poignancy. "Almost all the families and the people I met lost their house because of bombing," he said.

Hide Caption

5 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – Rovella described the images as capturing the moment a person or family's life changed forever. "You can see inside them the tensions and fear, (the) moments of violence," he said.

Hide Caption

6 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – "You see such scenes, and you imagine the moment when people had to escape from the rooms," Rovella said. "I imagine the people who must run away or they will die."

Hide Caption

7 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – The eerie quality of the photos is striking, with mundane household items strewn amid the rubble of countless battles.

Hide Caption

8 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – The constant threat of attack or getting caught in crossfire between rebels and government forces meant Rovella had to work quickly. "I was walking through buildings and taking pictures very fast," he said. "But I tried to do it in an artistic way. "

Hide Caption

9 of 10

Photos: Inside Syria's abandoned homes10 photos

Inside the lost homes of Aleppo – Despite the carnage, Rovella was moved by the resilience of those he encountered. "People are desperate," he said. "They are a mix of tears, sorrow and anger, and they wonder why no one ... is helping them. But they don't give up."

Story highlights

Matteo Rovella wanted images to convey impact of violence that forced people to escape

"I was ... taking pictures very fast, but I tried to do it in an artistic way," he said

Amid the rubble, you see a child's toy, clothing, furniture, family photographs. Homes that once sheltered families now ripped open, their insides spilling out like intestines.

These haunting images were captured in Aleppo in June by Italian photographer Matteo Rovella. While many photographers concentrate on the faces of Syria's brutal conflict, Rovella saw another side: what happens when a person's private space becomes ripped open by war.

"You see such scenes, and you imagine the moment when people had to escape from the rooms," he said. "I imagine the people who must run away -- or die."

Rovella had visited several camps on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border in early 2013. Thanks to a friend in the city keeping him up to date with events, he decided in June to head to the Syrian city of Aleppo, which has been ravaged in fighting between government and rebel fighters.

After organizing a car ride with a man from the Free Syrian Army, the main opposition rebel force, he crossed the border from Turkey. Many journalists choose to enter with the rebels for better access and less censorship than with the Syrian government, he said.

Syria's starving communities need aid

Just Watched

Syrian refugee crisis 'getting worse'

The trip to Aleppo involved nerve-jangling encounters with armed checkpoints and constant fear of discovery.

Just carrying a camera was dangerous, he said, particularly since the abduction of several foreign journalists in the country. "There are many independent armed gangs, and they could stop you, rob you, kidnap you and in the worst case, kill you."

When he arrived in Aleppo and began to work, photographing and interviewing Free Syrian Army fighters and local residents, he saw much of the city's precious historical monuments damaged or destroyed and neighborhoods smashed to pieces. At one point, while he was interviewing a local rebel commander, a mortar wheeled overhead, slamming into two fighters less than 100 meters from him.

"It was horrible. And strange, as it felt like I was not there, maybe because of the camera creating distance, just working inside my (camera) viewer," he said. "In truth, of course, you are very much there, and you're risking your life."

After a few days, Rovella began documenting the devastation through a series of evocative images of abandoned and destroyed homes that had been attacked over the course of the conflict. Almost all the people he met over the course of his visit had lost part or all of their homes.

"It's something like still-life photography, but you can see inside the homes tensions and fear, the moments of violence, how you were obligated to leave your things, your home, your life and go away, maybe to not come back."

It was dangerous work. Many of the buildings are now lookout points for the Free Syrian Army and targeted by government attacks. He often found himself sprinting with rebel fighters from one building to the next.

"I was walking through buildings and taking pictures very fast," he said. "But I tried to do it in an artistic way. "

Now back in Italy, he feels that the images of abandoned buildings show how the calm of everyday home life can suddenly, terribly, be shattered forever.

"It is a way to sensitize people to the war," he said of his images. "I think my testimony could be a little piece more to help the Syrians. A very tiny piece of help."